Tourism Today and Tomorrow: April 3, 2015

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a monthly column provided by the Alton Regional Convention and Visitors Bureau that discusses the tourism events on the horizon.

Year after year, we continue to evolve as a region. A lot of great things have happened in the past several years to build upon our momentum. Most recently, we have seen things like the growth of Grafton and its many amenities, or the changing landscape of Downtown Alton from primarily antiques to an emerging market of antiques, arts and good eats and drinks. The Audubon center at Riverlands is a great addition as well.

All of these did not just happen overnight, however. Many people behind the scenes dreamt about the possibilities of it all, sometimes for years. Whether it was an entrepreneurial spirit, developers or some form of government, these outcomes all took some planning and coordination to become a reality.

As your destination management organization, the Alton Regional CVB is proud to continue on a path of future success. We are continuing the evolution of our storylines and projects of our tourism market with an updated, fresh vision for the future. We have engaged the services of DMOproz’s Bill Geist, who brings a wealth of tourism planning and knowledge from throughout the United States. We opened up a survey that you can take to be a part of this effort at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GreatRiversStakeholders. If you have time, we would love your feedback. As always, you can stop in the Alton Visitor Center or call us at (618) 465-6676 or chat online at www.VisitAlton.com.

In addition to the results of this quick online survey, we are conducting several meetings this coming week with tourism stakeholders, land managers/owners and various forms of developers and governments. This process will take several weeks to complete and will result in an upgraded planning document for our communities based on the past corridor management plans and interpretive plans of the regional Meeting of the Great Rivers tourism documents.

We look forward to the future and know that with everyone working together, this region will continue to see the growth of tourism and development that will indeed create a stronger quality of life for us all. Stay tuned for some great things!

Stawar is president and CEO of the CVB, which works for the vested interests of hospitality partners in northwestern Madison County and all of Jersey and Calhoun counties.